Shock absorbing device



J3 16; c. c. WHITTAKER SHOCK ABSORBING DEVICE Filed April 8, 1944INVENTOR fiar/es Cl i fzif fd/f/T BY 02w? 2 WITNESSES:

ATTORN EY Patented July 30, 1946 T snoox snsonnnvo DEVICE Charles C.Whittaker, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Westinghouse ElectricCorporation, East Pittsburgh, lPa., a corporation of PennsylvaniaApplication April 8, 1944, Serial No. 530,218

Claims.

My invention relates to torpedoes, and more particularly to an auxiliarynose for the warhead of a torpedo. Torpedoes move at a relatively highspeed through the water, which is in the neighborhood of forty miles perhour, and when a torpedo strikes its target, and the target is arelatively rigid portion of a ship, as that portion of armor plateopposite a bulkhead, the war-head may be shattered before the explosivecharge is fired.

The Government of the United States has been granted a certainroyalty-free license for governmental purposes with respect to theinvention herein described.

One object of my invention is the provision of cushioning means for thenose of a torpedo.

A more specific object of my invention is the provision of an auxiliarynose for a torpedo constructed to be deformed to decelerate a torpedosufficiently to prevent shattering of the torpedo body when hitting atarget.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from astudy of the following specification and the drawing, in which:

Figure 1 represents the war-head, in longitudinal section, of a torpedoprovided with a special nose construction;

Fig. 2 shows a modification, also in section, of the war-head of atorpedo; and

Fig. 3 shows a side view of a torpedo, illustret ing the changes inshape and deformation of the auxiliary nose during contact with atarget.

The mechanisms for firing the charge of a torpedo and other devicesusually found in the torpedo represent no portion of my invention, andare, therefore, not shown. It should be noted, however, that torpedoesusually have inertia control firing mechanisms or firing mechanismscontrolled in some other fashion, which cause explosion of the chargewhen the torpedo hits the target. Usually, these mechanisms have aninertia switch or some other device in the nose of the torpedo, and whena torpedo strikes a relatively rigid target, the nose and sometimes theentire front of the torpedo may collapse, and thus fail to efiect theproper operation of the detonating charge.

I provide the body of the torpedo I with a substantially conventionalhemispherical nose 2, having the offset region shown at 3; and at thisoffset region, I dispose the auxiliary nose 4 which may be formed by aplain curve, as an ellipse, rotated about its major axis which is inline with the axis of the torpedo, to thus form a pointed surface ofrevolution. This nose portion, or surface of revolution, is providedwith the lifting and towing eye 5 which is suitably secured by welding,or other means, to the auxiliary nose 4 at the depressed region 6. Thenose l is depressed at the region 6 about the lifting and towing eye orcontact point, so that when the torpedo strikes the target, the bendingand deformation will readily take place at the deformed or prebentportion 6. The nose thus provides a relatively weak arc, and collapsesupon contact with the torpedo with the target.

It will be noted that in the embodiment shown in Figure l, I merely weldthe nose to the torpedo at the region 3. Since it is essential thatdeformation does not take place at the region 3, I may shape the torpedonose and the auxiliary nose as shown at 3', in Fig. 2. It will be notedthat the auxiliary nose has an offset portion with a strengthening ring8 disposed about the right-hand end, or open end, of the auxiliary nose4'. This ring 8 is welded both to the auxiliary nose and the torpedo, soas to form a rigid construction. The chamber, for both the embodimentshown in Fig. 1 and the modification shown in Fig. 2, formed between theauxiliary nose l and the hemispherical nose 2 of the torpedo, I fillwith a suitable oil or some other liquid. The liquid may be insertedthrough the opening 9, and then a suitable plug secured into the openingto prevent escape of the liquid.

At the depressed, preformed, or bent region 8, I dispose a plurality ofopenings circumferentially of the eye 5, and I fill these openings withrivets 7 soldered into place so as to make the chamber leak-proof. Inoperation, as shown in Fig. 3, the towing-eye or very point of the noseof the torpedo strikes the target T, and since this auxiliary nose, orfalse nose, immediately begins to buckle and collapse, the torpedo isslowed down enough to allow time for the detonators to operate to effectthe detonation of the main charge before the main torpedo body strikes.This slowing down is sufficient to take the initial impact, to preventshattering of the torpedo body. The impact, however, is of sufficientmagnitude to set the inertia devices in operation to cause detonation ofthe torpedo. The slowing down is ifected largely in this manner: whenthe target is struck, the false nose or auxiliary nose will begin tobuckle at the region 6, the region occupied by the rivets l, and thepressure of the liquid inside of the chamber will expel the loosenedrivets, and thus provide a restricted discharge path for the liquid toescape and thus suitably decelerate the main body of the torpedo.

The specific dimensions selected for the auxiliary nose, in themselves,are no part of my invention, but the design will, of course, be soselected to have a definite relation to the speed of operation of thetorpedo, the important feature being that point In, as it moves backtoward the nose 2, must not contact the nose 2 before the torpedo issubstantially brought'to'rest, or at least moves with a relatively lowspeed so that the detonating sequence has had time to ignite the maincharge of explosive before the main torpedo structure strikes withsuificient force to rupture itself.

I do not wish to be limited to the particular false nose construction Ihave shown, but wish to be limited only by the scope of the claimshereto appended;

I claim as my invention:

l. A false nose for a torpedo, in combination, a torpedo body having ahemispherical nose integral with the body, the torpedo body and nose atthe junction region being so shaped, or circumferentially depressed,that the outside diameter of the hemispherical nose at the base of thehemisphere is substantially equal to the inside diameter of the body, ahemi-ellipsoidal false nose disposed over the hemispherical nose so asto form a chamber between the two noses, the base of thehemi-ellipsoidal nose fitting snugly over the base of the hemisphericalnose, the two noses being welded to each other at their bases to form aliquid-tight joint, and a liquid disposed in the chamber formed by thetwo noses, the hemiellipsoidal nose circumferentially of the tip beingbent inwardly a relatively smallv amount so that when the torpedo hits atarget the false nose will begin its collapse at the portion bentinwardly, the tip, at the bent inwardly region, being provided with aplurality of apertures plugged with rivets that are soldered into placeto make the connection leak-proof but to have relatively little strengthwhen the surrounding metal is stressed, whereby the rivets are, when thetorpedo hits a target and the false nose begins to collapse, expelledfrom the apertures by the rising pressure of the liquid in the chamber,and the torpedo is suitably slowed down to prevent damage to theequipment for causing the detonation.

2. A false nose for a torpedo, in combination, a torpedo body having ahemispherical nose integral with the body and the nose being sodimensioned and shaped that the outside diameter of the base of thehemispherical nose is sub- 4 stantially equal to the inside diameter ofthe body, less twice the thickness of the material of the body, ahemi-ellipsoidal false nose having a circumferential flange at the basewith an outside diameter equal to the inside diameter of the body, thebase of the false nose having an outside diameter equal to the outsidediameter of the body, the flange being disposed to fit snugly over thebase of the hemispherical nose, a strengthening ring disposed over theflange, and the ring, flange, and base of the hemispherical nose beingwelded to each other.

3. A torpedo having a substantially conventional dome-shaped nose, afalse dome-shaped nose of greater height than the conventional nosefitted over the conventional nose to thus form a chamber between theouter surface of the conventional nose and the inner surface of thefalse 7 nose, said chamber being filled with liquid and the material ofthe false nose being weakened at suitable places to be ruptured when theliquid is subjected to pressure as happens when the torpedo hits atarget.

4. A nose construction for a torpedo, comprising, a-snub nose for thetorpedo, a longer deformable false hollow nose hermetically connected atits base to the region of the base of the snub nose whereby a leak-proofchamber is formed between the two noses, a liquid disposed within thechamber, said false nose being provided with relatively small frangibleinserts that become ruptured at the initial impact of the torpedo with atarget to thus provide escape vents for the liquid as the false'nosecollapses when a target is hit, whereby the impact of the torpedo on thetarget is cushioned.

5. A nose construction for a torpedo, comprising, a substantiallyconventional nose for the torpedo, a longer deformable false hollow nosehermetically connected at its base to the base of the conventional nose,whereby a leak-proof chamber is formed by the false nose over theconventional nose, the false nose near the tip being provided with acircumferential deformation to localize the initial collapse of thefalse nose when a target is hit, the false nose being provided with aplurality plugged apertures at the circumferential deformation whichprovide vent openings for the contents of the fluid medium in thechamber when the false nose begins to collapse and the plugs areexpelled 'by the medium.

